I’d learned my lesson before and had stuck close to the tree line this time instead of plunging deeper into the woods, but there was nothing that would help me. I couldn’t even go much farther in this direction, since there was a canyon up ahead, one with sharp rocks on either side and all along the bottom. Far too many rocks for me to climb down, much less over and up again in the dark, without cutting myself to pieces. And that was if I didn’t slip, fall, and break my neck outright.
I loved to tromp around in the woods, pretending that I was a great warrior on a grand adventure and an epic quest to save my kingdom. Mom had indulged me, letting me come out here whenever I wanted, but she’d always warned me not to go near the canyon. My heart squeezed at the thought of my mom, at the fresh, horrible memory of her charred, ashy body, but I forced the images away and thought. And a simple conclusion came to me.
If the canyon rocks could break my bones, maybe they could break the giant’s too.
“Hey!” A voice sounded behind me. “You there!”
A bright beam of light slashed across my face, blinding me, so I threw my hand up and squinted against the glare. The giant had his flashlight pointed directly at me. My heart sank. No way he didn’t see me. I was out of time, so I did the only thing I could.
I lurched to my feet and ran for the canyon, hoping that my desperate plan would somehow work . . .
“Gin? Gin, darling, wake up.” A soft, soothing voice penetrated my nightmarish memory.
The phantom feeling of rocks cutting into my feet slowly faded away, and my eyes fluttered open. Jo-Jo was leaning over me, the milky-white glow of her Air magic wisping like hazy clouds through her eyes, while the afternoon sun made her white-blond curls shimmer like pure spun gold. It reminded me of the lipstick tube.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
I glanced around and realized that I was still in Jade’s house, lying on the same couch in the den where I’d slept last night. I slowly sat up, wiggling my fingers and toes, moving my arms and legs, and stretching and testing out my body. Except for feeling a little tired from the blood loss, I was in one piece again. Jo-Jo had used her Air magic to seal up the gash in my stomach.
“Okay, thanks to you.”
She patted my hand. “Anytime, darling. Anytime. You sit still for a minute.”
She left the den. I heard the faint murmur of conversation, and then Jade came rushing into the room, followed by Silvio and Jo-Jo, both moving at a much more sedate pace. Jo-Jo must have healed Jade too, since her face was now free of bruises.
Jade started to come over and help me up, but I waved her off. Silvio looked me up and down, but once he realized that I was okay, he sighed, shook his head, and started scrolling through screens on his phone. Jo-Jo stood in the doorway, watching me.
I got to my feet and took a step forward. I wobbled a little, but that was to be expected, given the painful injury I’d suffered. It would take my brain a little time to play catch-up with my body and realize that I was okay.
Jade frowned. “Don’t you want to sit down? Shouldn’t you be resting? You almost died.”
“Actually,” Jo-Jo drawled, “the wound was fairly minor, all things considered.”
I snorted. “You mean that it wasn’t nearly as horrific as some of the other things people have done to me over the years.”
She grinned at my black humor.
“Perhaps you should take it easy,” Silvio murmured. “Just for a few hours.”
I snorted again. “Please. It’s going to take more than a little knife wound in my stomach to slow me down. Besides, I can’t sit on the sidelines now. Not when our killer has finally made some mistakes.”
“Mistakes?” Jade asked. “What mistakes?”
“All those men he sent here to kill you. There has to be something in their phones and wallets that will tell us who this guy is and where he’s keeping Elissa,” I said. “So let’s get to work, and get your sister back.”
20
Despite continued protests from Jade and Silvio, I left the den and went back into the office in the front of the house. Ryan was there, sifting through the mess on the floor and trying to make some sense of the files and photos. He’d also been a recipient of Jo-Jo’s healing Air magic, since all of the cuts and bruises that the dwarves had inflicted on him had vanished from his features.
“The others aren’t here yet?” I asked. “How long was I out?”
Silvio checked his phone. “Only about thirty minutes. Don’t worry. Everyone’s on their way.”
Jo-Jo had to leave to get back to her clients at the salon, but sure enough, Finn, Bria, and Owen all arrived a couple of minutes later.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Gin?” Owen asked, his gaze dropping to the bloodstains on my clothes.
“I’m fine.” I grinned. “Most of it’s not even my blood.”
He shook his head. “Only you would look at it like that.”
Owen let out a tense breath, gathered me up in his arms, and held me tight. I hugged him back, listening to his strong, steady heartbeat. After a minute, he let me go, knowing that we all had work to do.
I walked to the next street over, retrieved my car, and parked it in Jade’s driveway. I grabbed the Heartbreaker lipstick out of my console, along with a fresh set of clothes and a large black tarp from the trunk, and headed back inside the house.
Jade, Ryan, and Silvio were all still in the office, trying to wipe the blood off the Dollmaker files and put them back in some semblance of order.
Calling the cops would lead to all sorts of awkward questions about where we’d gotten the files, as well as potentially tip off whoever had sent these men after Jade, so Bria was here in an unofficial capacity. She moved from dead guy to dead guy, snapping photos of their faces with her phone, as well as grabbing all their wallets and cell phones.
That left Finn and Owen the not-so-pleasant task of hauling the dead dwarves out of the office.
“Why did I get elected to move the dead guys?” Finn sniped, reluctantly stripping off his jacket and rolling up his shirtsleeves. “My suit is way more expensive than Silvio’s.”
“I heard that,” Silvio said, still sitting on the floor and going through loose papers.
“I meant you to,” Finn snarked back.
Owen rolled his eyes. “Less talking, more lifting.”
Finn and Owen picked up the dead dwarves one by one, hauled them through the house and out the broken kitchen door, and dumped them in the backyard. Once they were all outside, I unfolded the black tarp and covered up the dead men. Not the best way to hide multiple bodies, but it would have to do until later tonight, when Sophia could come over and properly dispose of them.
Once that was done, and Finn had finished grumbling about ruining yet another suit, I cleaned myself up and changed into my usual black assassin clothes, and we all gathered in the office again. Jade and Ryan told everyone about the attack. Then it was my turn. I showed the others the gold tube of lipstick and filled them in on the mysterious shadow and the clue that he’d left behind at Northern Aggression.
“May I see that, please?” Ryan asked.
I handed him the tube, and he uncapped it, rolled up the lipstick, and held it up where everyone could see it.
After a few seconds, he nodded. “Oh, yeah. That’s the same color that was on the latest victim’s hands.”